由于背景调查程序和程序不充分，医疗保健组织正在不知不觉地雇用受过处罚或纪律严明的护士，这些护士有危及患者、药物盗窃和滥用的历史。有不当行为记录的护士能够操纵多州许可计划并继续跨州工作。护士执照契约等计划最初是为了解决护士短缺的问题，但无意中造成了一个危险的安全漏洞，可能使患者、员工和组织处于危险之中。
二十四个州是护士执照契约的一部分，这是一项具有十年历史的州之间的合作伙伴关系，允许在一个州获得执照的护士在所有其他契约州工作。但根据《今日美国》最近的一篇文章，在允许在本国受到制裁和纪律处分的护士根据多州执照在其他州工作方面存在重大的监管空白。
在威斯康星州一家医院，一名护士因偷止痛药被解雇后，那里的官员向警方和州护理监管机构通报了这一事件。然而，当他在威斯康星州因毒品罪被定罪时，护士能够使用他仍然有效的多州执照成为一名旅行护士，并在北卡罗来纳州的一家医院工作。这证明了紧凑型系统中的严重差距之一。– 在契约之外，每个州都对自己的护士进行许可和纪律处分，但在契约中，各州通常允许护士在他们正在寻求就业的州之外工作，但未经筛选。
医疗保健组织可能会因雇用受制裁或无执照的护士或其他医疗保健专业人员而面临患者和员工安全、罚款和处罚的严重风险。以下医疗保健背景调查最佳做法将帮助您识别受到制裁或其他纪律处分的个人：
• 监察长办公室 (OIG) 被排除个人/实体名单 (LEIE) 检查– 此屏幕识别因欺诈、虐待患者和其他医疗保健制裁而被禁止参与联邦资助的医疗保健计划的个人和实体。
• 总务管理局 (GSA) 排除方名单系统 (EPLS) 检查– 此搜索可识别因取消资格、暂停和其他排除行为而被排除在接收联邦合同之外的个人或组织。
• 专业执照验证– 根据社会安全号码(SSN) 跟踪报告，雇主可以验证当前和以前状态的所有执照。
• 欺诈和滥用控制信息系统 (FACIS®) 检查– 对联邦、许可和认证机构采取的纪律处分进行全面的全国性调查。
• 持续的执照和制裁监控– 执照将到期，调查可以结束，并且可以随时对护士进行制裁，因此进行持续的背景和制裁检查至关重要。
• 身份和犯罪记录检查– 筛选 SSN 的有效性并通过犯罪记录的 SSN 跟踪检查地址
聘请最合格的护士和其他医疗保健专业人员是确保患者安全、保持合规性和为社区提供最高标准护理的关键步骤。遵循这些常见的医疗保健背景调查最佳实践可以帮助缩小组织可能因未对所有医疗保健专业人员进行彻底筛查而面临的安全差距。
background checking processes and programs. Nurses with records of misconduct are able to manipulate multi-state licensing programs and continue working across state lines. Programs such as the Nurse Licensure Compact were originally put in place to stem the problem of the nursing shortage, but have unintentionally created a dangerous security loophole that could put patients, staff and the organization at risk.
Twenty-four states are part of the Nurse Licensure Compact, a decade-old partnership between states that allows a nurse who obtains a license in one state to work in all of the other compact states. But according to a recent USA Today article, there are major regulatory gaps that allow nurses who are sanctioned and disciplined in their home states to be allowed to work in other states under the multistate license.
Following the firing of a nurse for stealing painkillers at a Wisconsin hospital, officials there alerted the police and state nursing regulators of the incident. However, the nurse was able to use his multistate license, which remained active, to become a traveling nurse and was working in a North Carolina hospital by the time he was convicted on drug charges in Wisconsin. This demonstrates one of the serious gaps in the compact system. – outside of the compact, each state licenses and disciplines its own nurses, but in the compact, states often allow nurses to work that have not been screened beyond the state they are seeking employment..
Health care organizations can face serious risks to patient and employee safety, fines, and penalties by hiring sanctioned or unlicensed nurses or other health care professionals. The following health care background check best practices will help you identify individuals that have sanctions or other disciplinary actions against them:
• Office of Inspector General (OIG) List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE) Check – This screen identifies individuals and entities banned from participating in federally funded health care programs for fraud, patient abuse and other health care sanctions.
• General Services Administration (GSA) Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) Checks – This search identifies individuals or organizations excluded from receiving federal contracts due to debarments, suspensions, and other exclusionary actions.
• Professional License Verification – Based on a social security number (SSN) trace report, an employer can verify all licensure incurrent and previous states.
• Fraud and Abuse Control Information System (FACIS®) Check – Conducts a comprehensive national search of disciplinary actions taken by federal, licensing and certification agencies.
• Ongoing License and Sanction Monitoring – Licenses will expire, investigations can conclude and sanctions can be placed on a nurse at any time, so it’s critical to perform ongoing background and sanction checks.
• Identity and Criminal Record Checks – Screen SSNs for validity and check addresses via a SSN Trace for criminal history
Hiring the most qualified nurses and other health care professionals is a critical step for ensuring patient safety, maintaining compliance and providing the highest standard of care for the community. Following these common health care background check best practices can help close the security gap that may organizations face by not thoroughly screening all of their health care professionals.
